Academics warn of ‘violent revolution’ without reform

WAKE-UP CALL:：A group of 73 Chinese academics began to circulate the letter last month on the Internet, but now all references to it in media reports have been removed

Reuters, BEIJING

Tue, Jan 01, 2013 - Page 5

A prominent group of Chinese academics has warned in a bold open letter that the country risks “violent revolution” if the government does not respond to public pressure and allow long-stalled political reforms.

The 73 academics, including well-known current and retired legal experts at top universities and lawyers, said political reform had not matched the quick pace of economic expansion.

“If reforms to the system urgently needed by Chinese society keep being frustrated and stagnate without progress, then official corruption and dissatisfaction in society will boil up to a crisis point and China will once again miss the opportunity for peaceful reform, and slip into the turbulence and chaos of violent revolution,” they wrote.

The letter began being circulated on the Internet last month, but online references to it in Chinese media reports have now been removed.

The government needed to push democracy and independence of the judiciary as well as deepen market reforms, the letter said.

He Weifang (賀衛方), a law professor at Peking University and one of the signatories, said he believed the demands were rather moderate, but that now was the time to make them as Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) prepared to hand over the reins of state power to Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平), who was made Chinese Communist Party chief in November.

“We have come to that period again when the leadership is changing. People expect continuing advances when it comes to reform of the political system,” he said.

“The Chinese people, including intellectuals, have been talking about this for a while, but little has happened. So I think we have the opportunity now to push it again,” he said.

Other signatories include Zhang Sizhi (張思之), defense lawyer for Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) widow, Jiang Qing (江青), leader of the “Gang of Four” that wielded supreme power during the 1966 to 1976 Cultural Revolution. She was given a suspended death sentence in 1981 for the deaths of tens of thousands during that period of chaos.

About 65 Chinese academics, lawyers and human rights activists have signed a similar letter demanding top party members reveal their financial assets, saying it is the most fundamental way to end corruption.

Analysts have been searching for signs that China’s new leaders might steer a path of political reform, whether by allowing freer expression on the Internet, greater experimentation with grassroots democracy or releasing jailed dissidents.

However, the party, which values stability above all else, has so far shown little sign of wanting to go down this path, despite Xi trying to project a softer and more open image than his predecessor.

However, Xi himself warned shortly after becoming party boss that if corruption were allowed to run wild, the party risked major unrest and the collapse of its rule.

The letter said democracy, rule of law and respect of human rights were “a global trend that could not be stopped.”

“China’s 100 years of bloody and violent history — especially the painful and tragic lesson of the decade-long Cultural Revolution — show that once we go against the tide of democracy, human rights, rule of law and constitutional government, the people will suffer disaster and social and political stability will be impossible,” the letter said.